Forensic scientists from the Illinois State Police crime lab in Springfield testified Friday that murder victim Norman Raymel McCaster's blood was found on the rear cargo door stop of the car he owned with his wife as well as on a green latex glove investigators collected from Juatasha Denton-McCaster's trash.

Denton-McCaster, 24, is on trial in Sangamon County charged with murdering and dismembering her husband in October 2012.

A nearby resident found a man's torso at the bottom of an embankment in the 600 block of Griffiths Creek Road near Mechanicsburg on Oct. 29, 2012. The body — missing its head, hands and feet — later was identified as that of McCaster, a 22-year-old Illinois Army National Guardsman who lived with his wife in the 1400 block of North Grand Avenue West.

Denton-McCaster, who was a student at the University of Illinois Springfield, was arrested Nov. 26, 2012, and charged with concealment of a homicidal death and obstruction of justice. She later was charged with first-degree murder and dismembering a body.

Sangamon County State's Attorney John Milhiser and Assistant State's Attorney Karen Tharp methodically guided witnesses through evidence-collection and forensic-testing procedures most of the day.

Sangamon County Sheriff's Detective Andrew Danes testified about items including Walmart receipts, a napkin and a grill lighter that were collected in the area where McCaster's body was found, as well as suspected blood found on the road guardrail at the scene.

He also described items collected from Denton-McCaster's trash during the investigation and items and evidence swabs taken from the woman's home, garage and vehicle on Nov. 26, 2012, the day she was arrested.

Danes discussed several pieces of evidence that preliminarily tested positive for blood.

He said in response to questions by assistant Sangamon County public defender Lindsay Evans that the results could be skewed and false positives could result from the presence of bleach or other cleaning agents that were present in Denton-McCaster's home.

Forensic scientists described receiving evidence — some that was tested and some that was not — and their testing procedures.

Rhonda Cater of the crime lab said blood was detected on a sample from the guardrail on Griffiths Creek Road; on a Walmart receipt and paper napkin found there; on a latex glove taken from Denton-McCaster's trash, underneath a floor tile in a hall leading the bathroom at Denton-McCaster's home; and on swabs taken from two spots in the rear cargo area of the Chevy Blazer she drove.

Another scientist, Cory Formea, told Milhiser that blood on the Walmart receipt and napkin matched the DNA profile of McCaster, as did the blood on the latex glove. Mixed profiles were found on the glove cuff. One was McCaster's, and Denton-McCaster couldn't be excluded from the minor profile, Formea said.

McCaster's DNA was found on one of the areas of blood inside the Blazer, and his profile couldn't be excluded from the tile from the home nor the other blood spot inside the Blazer, he said.

“As a leader, I would love to have had more soldiers like him,” Fluechtling said. He said he was in contact with McCaster monthly and that McCaster never had any disciplinary problems and was tested for drugs randomly and never had a positive test. McCaster was tested four times in 2012, he said.

Fluechtling said that on Nov. 17, 2012, McCaster's wife came to the Crestwood Armory about 8 a.m. and dropped off her husband's deployment bag filled with his uniforms and other items.

He said she told him McCaster “was on drugs and that she had a restraining order against him and had filed for divorce.”

Fluechtling said that didn't sound like the McCaster he knew, who had never exhibited a temper nor shown indications of drug use.

Denton-McCaster filed for divorce in Sangamon County on Nov. 7, 2012.

Prosecution testimony will continue Monday in the case, which is expected to go to the jury later in the week.